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Topic: different prices on class 66s? (Read 465 times)

Looking at buying my first train soon, and yes its the class(y) 66 Im sure its been mentioned before but why the different prices on dapol and gf? Also why is the price different with certain types of livery? Can pick up the gbrf interhub for £25 cheaper than the ews livery, is it just the most popular livery costs the most?Thanks Andy

It's just supply and demand. If a particular livery doesn't sell well then the big retailers like Hattons and Rails will drop their prices to get rid of inventory. It doesn't mean your local model shop will drop their prices though, as they'll have less inventory.

Due to a number of factors (primarily Chinese wage policy, Exchange rates and shipping costs), the latest model just arrived will have cost the retailer a different (usually higher!) price to the one that's been sat on the shelf for 6 months so he needs to charge you a different amount.

The GBRF InterhubGB one is a fairly new model (6-pin socket etc), but does seem to have been discounted more than some. My guess is that EWS sell better than GBRF due to the ubiquity of the former, whilst the latter are less common 'in the wild'.

I know naff all about these 'sheds' but I think you need a comparison between the Farish and Dapol variants. For instance, I've read on this forum the Farish is heavier and therefore has better haulage capacity. Do they both have running lights (if this is important to you)?

Andy, previous replies provide reasons for the price differences. When it comes to handing over your money, if price isn't the key decider for you, then I'd recommend you try to see the model up close and running before deciding between Dapol and GF.

My first 66 (of over 3 dozen) was a GF - 66/5 No. 66522 in 'Freightliner Shanks' dark/light green livery. All my others 66s are Dapol, because I think a Dapol 66 looks better than a GF 66 and I find no discernible difference in performance. But that's just my opinion, which will differ from the opinion of others, and which shouldn't greatly influence your own opinion.

Im sure its been mentioned before but why the different prices on dapol and gf? Also why is the price different with certain types of livery? Can pick up the gbrf interhub for £25 cheaper than the ews livery, is it just the most popular livery costs the most?

Others have commented on the common-ness of certain liveries (like EWS red and gold) making them more attractive to purchasers. But this will depend a lot on what specific freight trains you are modelling -- it may well be that a DRS loco would be handling a nuclear flask train in north Wales, and if you're modelling that, then using a cheaper DRS is a win/win!

@newportnobby is correct that the later Dapol ones have lighter chassis than older Dapol ones, but the flip side is that the older Dapol ones are very noisy. I'd definitely avoid the older Dapol models, even if they're very cheap, without seeing and hearing them running in person. My general impression is that the Farish ones have consistently better mechanisms, while the Dapol ones have finer bodywork -- so as one wag put it, the ideal would be to plonk a Dapol body on a Farish chassis!

Performance on the oldest Dapol ones is very good, but they're very hard to convert to DCC. I've not had one for a while, but I don't remember it being particularly noisy. Plausible though, a number of Dapol models are very noisy.

Newer Dapol ones are much lighter and consequently have significantly reduced haulage capability. They have had 6-pin decoder sockets for a long time though. If you're not running longer trains then you likely won't find that an issue.

Farish ones are heavier, and IMO work better, but have only fairly recently adopted 6-pin decoder sockets, with older ones requiring you hardwire a decoder.

I've had a couple of Dapol ones just stop working, but I've got a couple of Farish ones that have suffered split gears.

There's not much in it, personally if I was looking at a new model I'd go Farish, if second hand I'd take all of the above into consideration on the specific model I was looking at.

I would also disagree that the Dapol one has finer mouldings, it's the other way around IMO, particularly around the cab and bogies.

Hi As many have said both have good parts but this is the first time I have seen an end on comparison shot - the Farish one is taller - the coupler height is the same - which is good but from there upwards it seems stretched. Just a bit more than New wheels and scrap size.

Both chassis have shown weakness with split gears and poor top gear worm interfaces on Farish loco giving wear, but its PCB seems better. Dapol have had motor and PCB issues. Dapol have done almost all the livery variations - latest Belmond and some of the LT/GBRF freight liveries to do compared to a limited palette of choice from Farish.

I have collected and used all versions produced with some exhibiton working and yet to be let down. However its sister loco the 59 by CJM has yet to be bettered in terms of performance.

Not forgetting there is also the Kato model if you want european 66s, but of course it's built to 1:160 and so is noticeably smaller against a Farish or Dapol (or CJM for that matter!) The Kato is a good reliable model though.

@robert shrives I have to agree, my CJM 59 will easily out-pull the Dapols, Farishes and Katos and has a really effective flywheel.

Well yes, but you could buy 10 Farish 66s for the same price, and they'll out haul a CJM one. Apples:oranges comparison.

On price maybe an unfair comparison (and of course the vast majority of that price differential is the hand-built nature of the CJM model). They're all N gauge models with the same constraints for chassis design. If a hand-built model designed a couple of decades ago can haul xyz, a modern commercial chassis could be designed to be just as smooth and powerful (and of course some are).